Royal Society announces University Research Fellowships for 2016

29 September 2016

The Royal Society has announced the appointment of 44 new University Research Fellows (URFs) for 2016. This year the prestigious University Research Fellowships programme has been able to expand, thanks to generous support from Tata companies over the coming years and from the Global Challenge Research Fund. The researchers will take up their new posts at institutions across the UK and Ireland at the start of October.

The University Research Fellowship scheme aims to provide outstanding early career scientists, who have the potential to become leaders in their chosen fields, with the opportunity to build an independent research career. The scheme is extremely competitive and URFs are expected to be strong candidates for permanent posts in universities at the end of their fellowships, and many have gone on to enjoy significant national or international recognition for their work.

The announcement includes the appointment of four Royal Society-Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellows. The fellowships are funded by Science Foundation Ireland and available for outstanding researchers in the Republic of Ireland.

The newly appointed research fellows will be working on a wide range of research areas including applying mathematical models to solve biomedical problems, understanding evolution of cooperation in humans, probing the evolution of cyanobacteria and their role in oxygenation of the early earth, the modelling of atomistic processes of radiation damage in materials for nuclear power generation, characterisation of habitable worlds and addressing fundamental questions in the field of low energy nuclear physics.

The list of appointments is as follows:

Dr Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo
Transition from a freshwater to a marine biosphere during the early Earth University of Bristol

Dr Nicolas Barry
The design, chemistry, and biochemistry of carborane metallated particles University of Bradford

Dr Thomas Bennett
New Directions for Hybrid Materials: Liquids, Glasses and Superstrong Frameworks University of Cambridge

Dr Scott Boden
Genetic regulation of inflorescence architecture and development in wheat John Innes Centre

Dr Alistair Boyer
Sulfonyl Triazoles: A Next-Generation Building Block for Molecular Complexity University of Glasgow

Dr Ana Caraiani
P-adic aspects of the Langlands program through arithmetic geometry Imperial College London

Dr David Thomson
Computing at the speed of light University of Southampton

Dr Mark Williams
Launching a Charm Offensive at LHCb University of Manchester

Dr Karl Wotton
The environmental and genetic basis of migration in the marmalade hoverfly University of Exeter

Of the 44 URFs, three are Tata awards, four are Royal Society-Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellows and 3 are through the Global Challenge Research Fund. 10 out of the 44 new appointments (22%) were made to female researchers. In total there are 25 universities across the UK and Ireland hosting the University Research Fellowships.